MINISFORUMUM890 Pro Barebone with Mini PC, AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS Mini Computers,8K Quad Display HDMI/DP1.4/USB4 х 2, AMD Radeon 780M/Dual LAN 2.5G

This review is for the MINISFORUM UM890 Pro. I was looking for an all around fast PC with good graphics for gaming. I run multiple virtual machines at the same time with Windows and Linux operating systems. My gaming is mostly MMORPGs.I am very impressed with how fast and quiet this Mini PC is even with 100% CPU and 100% Graphics processing. Running continuously at 100% CPU and 100% GPU the temperatures were 71c for the SOC (entire chip) and 81c for the CPU. The system had no problems and the fans were still barely noticeable. The air coming out was warm, but not hot. The 4nm gate technology makes a big difference.It has no problem running virtual machines (make sure to turn off Windows 11 Core Isolation!). I use VirtualBox to run everything from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 11.Mint Linux 22 with the 6.1 kernel has support for the graphics in this PC. Earlier versions did not detect the graphics device. If you plan to use Linux, make sure you have a recent distro with at least the 6.1 kernel.It comes with Windows 11 Pro. It also starts encrypting your disk as soon as you install Windows. If you don't want your disk encrypted, turn off BItLocker encryption as soon as possible, so you don't have to wait for the disk to be decrypted.My biggest problem with Windows 11 was the Core Isolation security feature. It caused virtual machines to malfunction without any error messages from Windows about blocking access by software. It wasn't obvious why the virtual machines were slow, erratic and crashing.The network ports, wireless and Bluetooth work great and are fast. The audio on the front is clean and quiet to make the most of your headphones or sound system.This Mini PC is well worth the price. It packs a lot of power in a small space and still manages to be quiet and cool. I added a larger nVME module and the PC was easy to upgrade. I had a little trouble reconnecting the fan cable to the main board. It would be better if that cable was longer, so that the top can be flipped up completely without disconnecting the fan. The PC also comes with a separate OCulink card that has to be installed by you if you want it. The OCulink card goes in one of the M.2 slots. So, you might want to install the OCulink card and upgrade storage or RAM at the same time. Be prepared for reconnecting a tiny fan connector.

Very nice mini PC. I had no problems with drivers and it plays the latest games. The cooling works well, it’s quiet, and upgrading the memory and ram was super easy. I would recommend it!

5 days in and it stopped powering on. Didn't even get to test how it handled games. For four days it ran beautifully. Then it just refused to power on. No signs of damage, it was plugged in directly to the wall and had plenty of room and ventilation. It ran quietly and set up was a breeze. Never got to test how it held up with gaming but what little I ran it never did heat up. It ran fast but the price point coupled with now the headache of returning the product, not that great.

Excellent Mini PC- Currently running PROXMOX with no Issues. Compact and speedy

Setup was easy! So far it is silent and wonderfully fast; programs that took minutes to open on my previous computer start up in seconds. I debated for a long time between the models but decided on the UM890 pro because of reviews that talked about the improved design and cooling capabilities. I'm hoping it will last several years and that when I do need to replace it I could carry the RAM and SSD forward to a new barebones model. One thing to note is that if using an HDMI cord to connect a monitor to the DisplayPort, you specifically need an "active" HDMI to DisplayPort converter.

** Upgraded my review to 4 stars, since Minisforum updated their product description describing the OcuLink situation (only here on Amazon as far as I can tell). To fix Bluetooth issues, Minisforum sent a replacement wireless card (Mediatek WXT2EV2103A vs the included Intel Killer AX1675x), which I appreciate. I did a card swap, keeping the original antennas, and the Bluetooth reception still sucked. I replaced the Main (black) antenna with the one included with the Mediatek card, and my reception was instantly better, despite the replacement antenna being beat up from getting shipped in a couple of envelopes... swapping main antenna back and forth and using the original Killer card indicates that the original antenna was bad. Thanks Minisforum for the support.I am still using this device every day, along with the Minisforum DEG1 housing an AMD 7900GRE. Playing games at 3440x1440p above 60fps (and mostly above 100fps), it powers through my DAW no matter how much garbage music I'm trying to make... it's a great machine.Minisforum emailed offering a coupon (or a return). I won't take them up on either, but I appreciate the contact.The OcuLink port is not built-in. It's an M.2 adapter card, meaning you can only use one M.2 slot for storage if you also want OcuLink. Doesn't even include a retention screw.Doesn't show that in the images or description on this Amazon page or the Minisforum website product page.Aoostar specifically advertises that their OcuLink port does not eat an M.2 slot; my mistake, should've ordered a GEM12 instead of this thing.The Bluetooth reception is trash. My gamepad will regularly stop responding, so I tested with a Logitech MX Anywhere 3s and it has the same behavior. Didn't have any issues with a GPD WinMax 2 in the same location and conditions.Build quality is great. Solid metal, magnetic top panel so easy access, although you're immediately after presented with four screws covered in Loctite to access the M.2 slots and memory.The selection of ports is dynamite, aside from the OcuLink issue. Two 40GB USB4 ports, lots of USB-A 3.2. Proprietary power supply but it's 120W, and you CAN power this thing with USB PD. I'm only using one Ethernet port but I can pull the full 2.5GBs.